One of the more common problems facing golfers that routinely utilize motorized golf carts is that the majority of golf bags available today are designed to be carried over one's shoulder. The placement of this type of bag on a motorized cart brings a series of compromises that hamper the functionality of the bag. Because the vast majority of golf bags today provide 4 or 6 large openings at the throat of the bag, the heads of the golf clubs usually become entangled causing problems in club identification and extraction. With trends in golf currently promoting the larger style grips or jumbo grips, problems routinely arise in the extraction and insertion of clubs. It is very common to experience so much difficulty replacing a given club that it is often allowed to stick up out of the bag allowing it to work its way back down into the bag as the golf cart is driven over bumpy terrain. Another problem arises because the shafts are allowed to touch other clubs and the bag opening dividers. Whenever clubs, and more importantly the shafts, are allowed to touch other objects there is always present the risk that the new graphite or composite shafts can become scratched, cracked and eventually broken. Furthermore, it is desirable to not only protect the shafts but also the club heads themselves. These heads are often cast out of relatively soft metals which when banged against each other can dent and scratch one another. Some club heads have been chromed and if this coating becomes chipped, the club head will then develop rust spots.
It is also true that because the bags do not have a specific place reserved for each club, but rather allow them to be placed in any of the openings, true accountability for each club is lost. This can become a problem especially riding in a motorized golf cart. On many golf courses, especially in and during wet conditions, golf carts are restricted to cart paths only. On many occasions it becomes necessary to take more than one club to the location of the ball. Once the shot is executed the, other club may very well be left behind. Once back to the cart, the clubs are returned to the bag. It may not be evident that a club has been left behind, and in fact, the club may not be discovered missing until the next time that club is chosen for a shot; and that may not happen for any number of holes. At this time it can be difficult to recall where the missing club was left.
More often than not, golfers today play golf with the aid of a powered golf cart. Resort golf courses require them and most country clubs and public golf courses encourage the use of them. This situation is brought about due to the lack of caddies, the usually undesirable situation of carrying ones own clubs and the need to speed up play due to the greater than ever number of golfers desiring tee times. As stated earlier placement of a bag designed to be carried over one's shoulder, onto a motorized golf cart presents many compromises. Many times the bag is situated so that removal and replacement of clubs become difficult. Most golf bags are higher on one side of the throat area than the other. Usually this is the side that holds the wooded style clubs. When this side of the bag is situated on the cart facing rearward, access of the shorter iron clubs becomes extremely difficult. The higher wooded style clubs, especially when their protective head covers are installed, block easy view or access to them. If the bag is oriented in the opposite direction, the wooded clubs become more difficult to access, as one must reach over the iron clubs. The iron clubs are in an easier position to access but because there is no order to the placement of the clubs, they normally tend to become entangled, making selection and removal of the desired club often a frustrating experience.
Another problem facing the golfer using a motorized golf cart is the problem of the storage pouch locations as related to their location on the bag when it is secured on the golf cart. With installation of the bag on the motorized cart, access to pouches on the backside (the side facing the front of the cart) becomes extremely difficult. In fact, one must usually remove the cart's strap and remove the bag, or at the very least, tilt the bag rearward to gain sufficient access to these areas. Even the storage compartments on the sides of the bag can be difficult to reach and access, owing to the close proximity of the other bag on one side and the side of the cart on the other.
Because the entire interior volume of the majority of golf bags today is dedicated to the golf club shafts, all storage compartments are attached to the outer perimeter of the bag. Put another way, the storage pouches' total space is limited because the storage areas can only extend a small amount beyond the outer circumference of the bag. If the storage areas are allowed to be any larger, the total circumference becomes too large creating a bag that is difficult to carry and difficult to attach to a cart. This situation severely limits the storage capacity of the bag. Because of this, golfers who travel with their golf bag often find that they need to carry an auxiliary bag to handle their accessories, such as shoes, towels, rain gear and sweaters. Also, because most golf bags are built with a soft flexible outer skin, they require a protective outer cover. This cover does little more than keep the golf bag within it clean, while adding substantially to the overall cost. As stated before, the standard style golf bag is an old design that just does not offer today's golfer the high-tech features that will improve the functionality of the bag and increase the ease with which a golfer can use the motorized cart and satisfy his needs for protecting and efficiently using his clubs while golfing as well as his needs for club security and for ease of traveling with his clubs.
Over the past sixty plus years there have been a whole host of attempts to correct this situation. Many have sought and received patents for improvements to existing equipment and still others have created entirely new designs quite practically reinventing the golf bag. While each of these improvements made strides beyond their predecessors, still the overwhelming majority of golf bags in use today resembles the tried and true conventional bag that has been popular for the past one hundred or so years. The mere fact that the original design is still the most popular indicates that even though many have tried, they still have not improved upon the original concept sufficiently enough to bring about change.